Online Communities and Virtual Volunteering for the January 31st NonProfit Commons Meeting

Friday, January 31st, TechSoup’s NonProfit Commons in Second Life will feature Jayne Cravens of Coyote Communications. She is a long time volunteer and community manager who has worked managing communities of volunteers everywhere from the UN to TechSoupJayne will be presenting on online communities like TechSoup’s forum, engaging with online volunteers, and share wisdom from her upcoming book The Last Virtual Volunteering Handbook

 

BIO: 

Jayne Cravens is an internationally-recognized trainer, researcher and consultant. Her work is focused on communications, volunteer involvement, community engagement, and management for nonprofits, NGOs, and government initiatives. She is a pioneer regarding the research, promotion and practice of virtual volunteering, including virtual teams, microvolunteering and crowdsourcing, and she is a veteran manager of various local and international initiatives. Jayne became active online in 1993, and she created one of the first web sites focused on helping to build the capacity of nonprofits to use the Internet. She has been interviewed for and quoted in articles in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press, as well as for reports by CNN, Deutsche Well, the BBC, and various local radio stations, TV stations and blogs. Resources from her web site, coyotecommunications.com, are frequently cited in reports and articles by a variety of organizations, online and in-print. Women’s empowerment and women’s full access to employment and education options remains a cross-cutting theme in all of her work. Jayne received her BA in Journalism from Western Kentucky University and her Master’s degree in Development Management from Open University in the U.K. A native of Kentucky, she has worked for the United Nations, lived in Germany and Afghanistan, and visited more than 30 countries, many of them by motorcycle. She is currently based near Portland, Oregon in the USA.  

 

Join us in Second Life! 

 

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting

Friday, January 31st, 8:30 AM PT / SLT

Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

http://bit.ly/NPCinSL

 

AGENDA (all times below PT)

  • 8:30 am Introductions
  • 8:40 am TechSoup Announcements
  • 8:45 am Mentors Central – Jeroen Frans (Frans Charming) 
  • 9:00 am Featured Presentation – Jayne Cravens  
  • 9:45 am Open Mic / Announcements

 

http://nonprofitcommons.org

The mission of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is to create a community for nonprofits to explore and learn about virtual worlds, foster connections, and discover the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize the unique environment of Second Life to achieve their missions.  

Written by: Rhiannon Chatnoir

Study of Virtual Health Literacy Skills and Real Life Impact for the December 13th NonProfit Commons Meeting

Friday, December 13th, TechSoup’s NonProfit Commons in Second Life meeting will feature Evelyn McElhinney (Kali Pizzaro in SL), who will present a snapshot of her findings from her first study which explored the health literacy skills of people who accessed health information in 3D virtual worlds and the influence on physical world health behavior.

 

Kali will go onto discuss her second study of her PhD with the aim to raise awareness and recruit participants. The study is investigating how participating in virtual world communities/groups influences peoples ability to ‘live with’ or ‘cope with’ their long term health condition in the physical world. A long term health condition is defined as a condition which lasts more than one year and impacts on a persons life and may require ongoing help and support (Scottish Government).

 

Bio:

Kali Pizzaro/Evelyn McElhinney is a Registered Nurse and Registered Nurse Lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland. She is also a part time Doctoral Student at Glasgow Caledonian University. She was in clinical practice for 13 years and has been full time at the University for 8 years. She has presented at national and international conferences and published in peer reviewed journals.

 

Join us in Second Life!

 

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting

Friday, December 13th, 8:30 AM PDT / SLT

Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

http://bit.ly/NPCinSL  

 

AGENDA (all times below PT)

  • 8:30 am Introductions
  • 8:40 am TechSoup Announcements
  • 8:45 am Mentors Central 
  • 9:00 am Featured Presentation –  Evelyn McElhinney (Kali Pizzaro in SL) Study of Virtual Health Literacy Skills and Real Life Impact 
  • 9:40 am Open Mic / Announcements

 

 

http://nonprofitcommons.org  

The mission of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is to create a community for nonprofits to explore and learn about virtual worlds, foster connections, and discover the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize the unique environment of Second Life to achieve their missions. 

Written by: Rhiannon Chatnoir

Global Health Traveler Simulation for the November 22nd NonProfit Commons Meeting

Friday, November 22ndTechSoup‘s NonProfit Commons in Second Life meeting will feature Rachel Umoren (Rachel Gloedu), Pediatrician, Indiana University-Moi University, who will present on the Global Health training simulation she designed. The Center for Global Health’s East Africa Traveler Safety Simulation gives new and experienced travelers an opportunity to test their knowledge of health conditions they may encounter at their global health site, practice language and intercultural communication skills. 

Presenter:

Rachel Umoren, Staff NeonatologistIndiana University Health Ball Memorial Hospital, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics-NeonatologyIndiana University School of Medicine, IUPUI

Join us in Second Life!

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting

Friday, November 22nd, 8:30 AM PDT / SLT

Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

http://bit.ly/NPCinSL  

 

AGENDA (all times below PDT)

  • 8:30 am Introductions
  • 8:40 am TechSoup Announcements
  • 8:45 am Mentors Central 
  • 9:00 am Featured Presentation – Global Health 3D Virtual Simulations
  • 9:45 am Open Mic / Announcements 

Following the meeting we will tour the East Africa Traveler Safety Simulation, an immersive learning simulation, with interactive environment, game elements and computer-run avatars, located in the OpenSimulator VIBE grid. Access information: GlobalHealth3D grid

http://nonprofitcommons.org 

The mission of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is to create a community for nonprofits to explore and learn about virtual worlds, foster connections, and discover the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize the unique environment of Second Life to achieve their missions.

Written by: Rhiannon Chatnoir

¡Cuídate! Latino Youth Sex Ed Virtual Facilitator Training for the November 15th NonProfit Commons Meeting

Friday, November 15th, TechSoup’s Nonprofit Commons in Second Life meeting will be welcoming members of the University of Michigan’s, Latino youth sex education project ¡Cuídate! taking place in Second Life.

 

Research team members:

  • Antonia Villarruel, PhD (avillarr in SL)
  • Michelle Aebersold, PhD (jaimeaebersold in SL)
  • Dana Tschannen, PhD (madeline.glaz in SL)
  • Emily Yeagley, MPH, MA  (eyeagley in SL)
  • Angel Valladares (angelfv in SL)
  • Joseph D. Yaksich, MS, RN (jyaksich in SL)

About ¡Cuídate!:

¡Cuídate! Is an evidence based program designed specifically for Latino youth to reduce sexual risk behavior. A key component of ¡Cuídate! Is to have trained facilitators delivering the program. The training is developed in Second Life in order to increase access to quality training. The project uses Second Life ®, an online web-based environment where participants can learn and practice skills needed to implement ¡Cuídate

The scale-up of effective evidence-based programs is sometimes held up by the inability to meet the demand for curriculum training. Traditional trainings are conducted face to face, are time intensive, often require travel, and are conducted at the same pace. Barriers to training include getting time off as well as the time and cost of travel. 

 

The goal is to offer a more efficient, user-based way for individuals to be trained in ¡Cuídate! We believe this method will provide an excellent learning environment to learn the skills necessary to deliver ¡Cuídate! and do so in way that is less costly and more convenient. 

 

Funding for this study comes from NIH Grant No. 1R21MH09572301A1

 

 

Join us in Second Life!

 

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting

Friday, November 15th, 8:30 AM PDT / SLT

Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

http://bit.ly/NPCinSL  

 

AGENDA (all times below Pacific Time)

  • 8:30 am Introductions
  • 8:40 am TechSoup Announcements
  • 8:45 am Mentors Central 
  • 9:00 am Featured Presentation – ¡Cuídate! Latino Youth Sex Ed Virtual Facilitator Training
  • 9:45 am Open Mic / Announcements

Immediately following the meeting we will take a virtual tour of the ¡Cuídate! training center in Second Life, located at: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Wolverine%202/55/78/25

 

http://nonprofitcommons.org 

The mission of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is to create a community for nonprofits to explore and learn about virtual worlds, foster connections, and discover the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize the unique environment of Second Life to achieve their missions. 

Written by: Rhiannon Chatnoir

Spooky Tech Stories for the November 1st NonProfit Commons Meeting

This Friday, November 1st, TechSoup’s Nonprofit Commons in Second Life meeting will feature a discussion on some of the spookier sides of tech. from email spam, to data hacks, to software malware. In light of Halloween this week, come ready to share any scary security stories and costume dress is welcome. 

 

Join us in Second Life!

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting

Friday, November 1st, 8:30 AM PDT / SLT

Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

http://bit.ly/NPCinSL  

 

AGENDA (all times below PDT)

  • 8:30 am Introductions
  • 8:40 am TechSoup Announcements
  • 8:45 am Mentors Central: Overview of Second Life share to Facebook
  • 9:00 am Featured Presentation: Spooky Tech Stories  
  • 9:30 am Open Mic / Announcements

 

http://nonprofitcommons.org 

The mission of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is to create a community for nonprofits to explore and learn about virtual worlds, foster connections, and discover the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize the unique environment of Second Life to achieve their missions. 

Written by: Rhiannon Chatnoir

Developing Mobile Apps from Idea to Launch: Case Study for the October 25th NonProfit Commons Meeting

This Friday, October 25th, TechSoup’s Nonprofit Commons in Second Life meeting is happy to feature Anna Jaeger (Sage Qvetcher in Second Life), who will share best practices and lessons learned in the development process of Caravan Studios creating SafeNight and other apps.

Anna will go through how the app idea came about, what the process looked like for engaging the community, creating the design, partnering with for-profit companies and nonprofit developers, and launching in the marketplace. If your nonprofit, charity, or library is interested in creating your own app, join us to learn more about developing mobile apps. You’ll come away with some key steps in the process, some best practices and pitfalls to avoid, and a look at the inside of creating an app for social good.

Bio:

Anna Jaeger, the CTO of Caravan Studios, a division of TechSoup Global, and her team create technology solutions, such as mobile apps, that are designed in partnership with nonprofit and community-focused organizations to meet the needs of their constituents. Prior to her work on Caravan Studios, Ms. Jaeger was the director of TechSoup Global’s IT Engineering department for five years, leading the group that implemented and maintained all enterprise software and websites. Ms. Jaeger has previously held positions in IT consulting, medical research and has been the treasurer of the board for a small California nonprofit.

For updates from Caravan, go to http://caravanstudios.org/ and sign up for their newsletter at http://tinyletter.com/caravanstudios.

 

Join us in Second Life!

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting

Friday, October 25th, 8:30 AM PDT / SLT

Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

http://bit.ly/NPCinSL  

 

AGENDA (all times below PDT)

  • 8:30 am Introductions
  • 8:40 am TechSoup Announcements
  • 8:45 am Mentors Central 
  • 9:00 am Featured Presentation – Developing Mobile Apps from Idea to Launch: Case Study 
  • 9:30 am Open Mic / Announcements

 

http://nonprofitcommons.org 

The mission of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is to create a community for nonprofits to explore and learn about virtual worlds, foster connections, and discover the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize the unique environment of Second Life to achieve their missions. 

Written by: Rhiannon Chatnoir

Using Social Media for Events & Recap of #OSCC13 for the September 20th NonProfit Commons Meeting

This Friday, September 20th Nonprofit Commons is happy to have Beth O'”Connell (Beth Ghostraven in SL) lead our Mentor’s Central in a presentation on how to use social media such as Google+, Facebook, Twitter, and Second Life group notices, to attract more people to your events. These tools can be used to promote any type of event, virtual, online or in person.

We will also feature a recap of the recent OpenSimulator Community Conference (OSCC13) which took place September 7th & 8th, 2013. OSCC is an annual conference that focuses on the community around the OpenSimulator software. This year’s conference featured two days of presentations, workshops, keynote sessions, and social events across diverse sectors of the OpenSimulator user base and archives can be found at: http://conference.opensimulator.org/2013/streaming/.

 

Join us in Second Life!

 

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting

Friday, September 20th, 8:30 AM PDT / SLT

Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

http://bit.ly/NPCinSL

 

AGENDA (all times PDT)

    •    8:30 am Introductions

    •    8:40 am TechSoup Announcements

    •    8:45 am Mentors Central – Beth O’Connell (Beth Ghostraven in SL)

    •    9:05 am Featured Presentation – OSCC13 recap 

    •    9:30 am Open Mic / Announcements

 

http://nonprofitcommons.org

The mission of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is to create a community for nonprofits to explore and learn about virtual worlds, foster connections, and discover the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize the unique environment of Second Life to achieve their missions. 

Written by: Rhiannon Chatnoir

Meet Your Counselor: An Avatar for the September 13th NonProfit Commons Meeting

This Friday, September 13th, Nonprofit Commons is happy to feature Brenda Bryan (Brena Benoir in SL) who will present on virtual counseling and share outcomes of the Preferred Family Healthcare (PFH) three year Portal I Program, an innovative online counseling and treatment program. PFH is the largest substance abuse and mental health services provider in the state of Missouri and support in Kansas. Learn the challenges and successes that paved the road to support future programs from local counties to state organizations and the federal government. Barriers and benefits will be addressed including: treatment overall, practitioners, clients, and technology.

 

More on the Preferred Family Healthcare virtual world programs:

Bio:

Brenda Bryan has been employed by Preferred Family Healthcare for nearly 18 years. She currently holds the following credentials: Bachelor of Arts in Sociology/Anthropology and a minor in Criminal Justice; CRADC (Certified Reciprocal Alcohol and Drug Counselor); CCDP (Certified Co-Occurring Disorders Professional); and SATOP SQI (Substance Abuse Traffic Offenders Program Qualified Instructor). She has been serving in the capacity of a Virtual World Counselor for approximately 6 years. She has held various positions including Community Support Specialist, Therapist, Family Therapist, in addition to working directly on the residential substance abuse treatment units. She has extensive experience in working with adolescents and young adults who suffer with drug and alcohol issues and mental health issues.

 

Join us in Second Life!

 

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting

Friday, September 13th, 8:30 AM PDT / SLT

Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

http://bit.ly/NPCinSL 

 

AGENDA (all times PDT)

    •    8:30 am Introductions

    •    8:40 am TechSoup Announcements

    •    8:45 am Mentors Central – ThinkererSelby Evans

    •    9:00 am Featured Presentation – Brenda Bryan (Brena Benoir in SL)  

    •    9:30 am Open Mic / Announcements

 

http://nonprofitcommons.org

The mission of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is to create a community for nonprofits to explore and learn about virtual worlds, foster connections, and discover the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize the unique environment of Second Life to achieve their missions. 

Written by: Rhiannon Chatnoir

NPC 5/17/13 Featured Presentation: Virtual Occupational Therapy

Below is an edited transcript of the May 17th, 2013 NonProfit Commons in Second Life meeting, featuring Andrew Hughes of Designing Digitally, Inc.

 

You can view the full transcript at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19PLNXWnfoi3b7C-D05neJCONP98HvBZVjhhJlrZxx8E/ and photos at: https://plus.google.com/events/gallery/crk8ercovt8052kc4gu6klmtfcs

 

Today for our featured presentation we are happy to feature Andrew Hughes of Designing Digitally who will present about the company’s recent project using Kinect motion tracking and immersive training simulation for stroke victims that they have been working on for the National Institute of Health.

 

About Andrew Hughes:

Andrew Hughes founded Designing Digitally, Inc. which specializes in E-Learning, Training Simulations, Serious Games, and Virtual Immersive Learning. Andrew has extensive experience in education as a professor at both the University of Cincinnati and at the Art Institute of Ohio – Cincinnati. Currently Andrew is the president of Designing Digitally, Inc. and also is a curriculum evaluator for ACICS the private college accreditation board. The majority of Andrew’s experience has been in the development of enterprise learning solutions for Government and Fortune 500 clients.

 

Andrew also was a consultant for the Ohio Board of Regents and the U.S. Department of Education for the Office of Innovation where he helped to develop ground-breaking learning spaces for the K-12 sector. Having successfully taken on responsibilities in instructional design, project management, sales, and leading his own team, Andrew has propelled Designing Digitally, Inc. to be an award winning virtual immersion and E-Learning company.

Let’s welcome Andrew up, please take a seat and start whenever you are ready.

 

Buffy Beale: Cheering madly!

Kali Pizzaro: Hey Andrew

Jen (jenelle.levenque): Welcome to NPC Andrew

 

Andrew Hughes: Hello everyone! nice to see you all! I am the President of Designing Digitally, Inc. We’re located between Cincinnati and Dayton Ohio We’ve been doing development work since 2001, and went INC’d in 2006. We do a very wide range of work. Mostly it’s for online learning, in forms of both 2d and 3d interactive learning.

 

What I am here to talk about today is our effort we created with a SBIR grant from the National Institute of Health. We partnered with a healthcare agency called Barron Associates to create a new product called VOTA, Virtual Occupation Therapy Assistant 

 

We are using the Microsoft Kinect and the Unity3D gaming engine to create dynamic AI bots that help you re-learn how to use your arms. It’s for stoke victims, and people that have MS, etc. What this software is doing is using AI technology to help guide you in learning how to do everyday things again. Such as putting the groceries away. We are tracking the six axis’s that you have with your arms. We are using 2 Kinects together to get very high detailed tracking and the system is built into kiosks that are now going to be deployed in hospitals, and PT locations throughout the nation.

 

Tarquin Evermore: Oh how cool alternative use of Kinect!

Buffy Beale: it really is fantastic

 

Andrew Hughes: This SBIR grant was for Phase 1, which was to build the system and now we’re awaiting to see if Phase 2 (full deployment) will be funded so we can roll this out throughout the USA. We have built a content management system that sends all data about your progress, and even records your movements for you to see online and also for the your therapist to review to see how your movement has improved throughout time of using this tool. The AI bots actually are not static, so they change the difficulty, and even change the scenarios based on how well you are doing so it learns from you while you are learning! And increases the difficulty based on your past performance. 🙂

 

Rhiannon Chatnoir: for those that might not know, SBIR is short for Small Business Innovation Research – a series of government grants to encourage small biz development/projects

 

Andrew Hughes: Thanks Rhiannon!

So with that said here is an overview (we can only show just this small video but take into consideration that the actual development is much more than this, it’s just a small teaser for people until w know if we get phase 2 of the SBIRhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Asy0Kkaff0s

 

Tarquin Evermore: This sounds awesome and exciting. It probably has a nifty side effect, I am sure many stroke sufferers suffer from depression for thinking they are ‘less than’ an able bodied person, and having to rely on others. It sounds so liberating to get that freedom back ;3

 

Andrew Hughes: So this is one of many projects we’re working on. Yes, the biggest thing is we wanted them to feel accomplished by doing thing they did everyday with little effort. So our goal was to teach them to cook in a safe way and do things around their home they had no problem doing in the past. This is just one of the scenarios out of many by using 2 Kinects together we can get a better sense of the 3d space.

 

Sum Anachen (szemanzoltan): It is awesome!

Tarquin Evermore: And how else but virtually? if they make a mistake or slip, they don’t have to worry about burning the food, or worse, themselves!

 

Andrew Hughes: right Tarquin!  🙂

OK, In regards to our efforts, this is something we’ve been working on for awhile now. Unity3D obviously has become a very popular gaming engine. What we’re doing is trying to push it’s efforts far beyond what it can do to produce learning experiences that are engaging, educational, and yet entertaining so the learning is fun and it sticks

 

Rhiannon Chatnoir: to view the movie it will show on the big NPC screen behind us, just click play

Azwaldo Villota: Please, could you also post video URL here in chat?

 

Andrew Hughes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Asy0Kkaff0s

 

Kali Pizzaro: engages

Rhiannon Chatnoir: you can also view it on youtube http://youtu.be/Asy0Kkaff0s

Glitteractica Cookie: watching on YT now

 

Andrew Hughes: We used the Kinect to build a serious game called Air Marshaller serious game where we used the Kinect to teach you how to do the air marshal signals

 

Sister (sister.abeyante): May I make a constructive request? Can your company please caption the youTube video, as the “auto captioning” does not do a very good job and the content is important to the deaf /HOH as well as the hearing. thanks!

 

Andrew Hughes: sure!

 

Rhiannon Chatnoir: so the video mentions that your real world Occupational therapist, so do you anticipate this to be a facilitated experience with a OT and patient

 

Andrew Hughes: Yes there is a OT. It can be either on site with you or online where they can see your progress in real time.

 

Tarquin Evermore: might be a good idea. I often have trouble when trying to listen to some of the videos a bhuddist monk puts up, because I can’t hear it.

 

Andrew Hughes: Another good example of using the Kinect for fun purposes is that Kinect serious game we built in Unity3D  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef_vAih13pU

 

Tarquin Evermore: I love this idea, when you turn therapy into a game, it seems less like theropy and ‘boring’

 

Andrew Hughes: Glad you guys like it. We wanted to do activities that people take for granted each day, such as the daily chores we find annoying. They become very hard when you don’t have control over your limbs. So we wanted to focus on accomplishments of everyday activities.

 

Jen (jenelle.levenque): My dad was very frustrated after his stroke

Wisdomseeker (lissena): and playing adds to consistency of practice, I suspect–less frustrating?

 

Andrew Hughes: agreed!

 

Wisdomseeker (lissena): music is being used with stroke patients in Canada, I know

Tarquin Evermore: They put Wii Fits in old age homes and such to get older people to move. And since it was a game, they didn’t notice it was theropy so they wanted to do it instead of “aww gee…do I haveta?” and since WIi Fit was low impact, it was perfect for the elderly.

Sister (sister.abeyante): Question: Will the program accommodate individual differences in physical ability i.e. a person with no arms needs to learn to do these same tasks, but does not have limbs to do it. Can it adapt/be adapted to something like that?

 

Andrew Hughes: It’s funny. if we can change the learning culture from “I have to” to “I want to” then you will see excellent results.

 

Rhiannon Chatnoir: and pairing the motor movement of Kinect with the game-like process of going through the daily routine works on both a physical and cognitive level I would think

Tarquin Evermore: Maybe different “games” for different physical types? Like maybe a ‘tour de france‘ type game for those without arms to learn how to use their legs again?

 

Andrew Hughes: That’s a great idea

 

Tarquin Evermore: And didgital ‘rewards’ for completing the task? Heck we all know why folks play MMOs, thats part of why it is addicting. The whole ‘reward’ thing.

Sum Anachen (szemanzoltan): Well MMO gives you a community feeling thats why it works so well

Buffy Beale: Question: Are there any other countries interested in your program for their hospitals?

Rhiannon Chatnoir: so does that correlate in the VOTA with the points that get earned throughout .. they are earning them via activities and how accurately done? is this mainly to keep progress and work to improve their overall score?

 

Andrew Hughes: Yes digital rewards are for completing tasks. You are ranked based on people = to you rather than just seeing a top 10, that way you can strive to be a little better than the person above you

 

Buffy Beale: nice idea

Sister (sister.abeyante): Question: Is this system only going to be available in a hospital or clinic environment, or do you anticipate making it into a portable “kit” that could be set up on someone’s home?

Tarquin Evermore: I am betting Japan would be all over this awesome. Heck they have an adorible robitic baby sea lion. All white and fluff and awww <3! it reacts just like the real deal. They use them in nursing homes.

 

Andrew Hughes: from there we are not sure about other hospitals in countries because we’re doing this as a SBIR so it’s not otu to market yet. We are actually making Kiosks that can be portable.

 

Rhiannon Chatnoir: Ozma, the relative scoring reminds me some of the math learning game you led at Arizone State Univ

Tarquin Evermore: Speaking of math, I am remembering Number Munchers very fondly. Still LD as heck, but that is one of the few math games I remember fondly XD

 

Andrew Hughes: Did you guys have any other questions regarding what we’ve built?

 

Rhiannon Chatnoir: you have done development of projects both in virtual spaces like SL, etc and then these free standing experiences in Unity or otherwise, what wisdom or differences in process do you find

Azwaldo Villota: What are the main advantages to developing with Unity? Is it due to the connectivity with Kinect?

Sister (sister.abeyante): I do. Ever the advocate for equal access— will the product be accesible to the deaf.hard of hearing? Captions rather than just audio?

 

Andrew Hughes: The reason why we did it in Unity3d is:

1. Level of detail / fidelity

2. Flexibility of the platform

3. Ability to create dynamic experiences

4. Kinect integration (we ended up having to custom code this with DDL’s and so while we thought it would not be hard to use Unity3D with the Kinect we found that we had to do a ton of R&D to get it to work properly

 

It can be deployed as an app, and we have it autoboot that exe file when the computer boots up, so that way it’s acting as it’s own OS

 

Sister (sister.abeyante): and I also have a related question to the one on accessibility for the deaf/Hard of hearing… will it be available to people who do not speak/understand English?

Rhiannon Chatnoir: so being able to be freestanding experience if need be

 

Andrew Hughes: yep! It can be. Right now it was setup of English only based on the SBIR requirement. You are correct Rhiannon.

 

Sister (sister.abeyante): And the accessibility to the deaf/HOH? Was that also an SBIR requirement?

Azwaldo Villota: Wow. Great info, much appreciation for you sharing here today, Andrew.

 

Andrew Hughes: Sister – Right now it is not accessible but it will be for Phase 2 if we are awarded the grant for phase 2. The Phase 1 is the prototype effort, phase 2 is the funding to do revisions / additions / mass produce.

 

Sister (sister.abeyante) nods… so the prototype wasn’t, but the mass production will be- that’s great.

Rhiannon Chatnoir: the first phase grant is more of a proof of concept, working prototype. if you do not get phase two grant support, what will be next step if any for this project

Tarquin Evermore: with this current economy, how about are you going to get this funding?

 

Andrew Hughes: Rhiannon – Good question about funding. The partering company is still going to be working with us to deploy it if we get funded or not. The partnering company is known for getting Phase 2 passed, so we shall see. Tarquin – It’s in review now and we will find out in September if we got Phase 2.

 

Frans Charming: 🙂

Rhiannon Chatnoir: not sure how much this gets impacted Tarquin, http://www.sbir.gov/ for deeper info on the program

Sister (sister.abeyante) wonders if, from the user’s/consumer’s end of things, this will be covered by insurance? Or will the user have to pay out of pocket to use this?

Frans Charming: Hopefully the sequester has no impact on the phase 2 funding.

 

Andrew Hughes: Sister – This side of it has not been discussed yet

 

Wisdomseeker (lissena): perhaps I missed this? how did you measure results of your program?

Sister (sister.abeyante) nods and reflects that, without it being covered by insurance, many or most folks most needing it will not be able to use it due to cost to the consumer.

 

Andrew Hughes: Wisdomseeker – There are multiple analytical pieces

 

Dancers Yao: great Q Sister…this has been an ongoing problem for seniors…to afford any of the new tech services

Rhiannon Chatnoir: any other questions or comments for Andrew

Buffy Beale: Just to say well done, it looks like this will be part of the future Andrew 🙂

 

Andrew Hughes: Thanks Buffy

 

Dancers Yao: really great to see you appreciate using a dynamical approach to your work….thanks

Ozma Malibu: Wonderful. I want to spread the word.

Rhiannon Chatnoir: yes, and good luck on phase two funding.. I have been part of an SBIR grant process too .. know they are a lot of work and waiting

 

Andrew Hughes: Thanks everyone!

 

Gentle Heron: Very cool Andrew. I’ll be looking for the next Phase of development from you.

Azwaldo Villota claps while clapping

Jen (jenelle.levenque): Regarding the payment question, if they are in therapy, then the specific tools used shouldn’t be an issue

Wisdomseeker (lissena): yes…just wondered what you were look inspiring!

Tarquin Evermore: BRB reconnecting :3

Wisdomseeker (lissena): sorry for mashup

Wisdomseeker (lissena): Inspiring!

Rhiannon Chatnoir: let’s thank Andrew for being here today and you can find more at

Buffy Beale: cheering!!

Frans Charming applauds

Scarlett Sismondi: thanks!

MusE Starsmith: ♫♫ APPLAUSE APPLAUSE ♫♫

MusE Starsmith: Applauds!

Jen (jenelle.levenque): Yay Andrew and company

Jen (jenelle.levenque): ********APPPLLLAAAUUUSSSEEE********

 

Andrew Hughes: Thanks everyone!   🙂   We are working hard to be creative!

 

Zadark Xavorin applauds

Sum Anachen (szemanzoltan) applauds

Buffy Beale: thanks Andrew

 

Andrew Hughes: thanks everyone for the time today!

Written by: Rhiannon Chatnoir

Social Change Through Games, Virtual Worlds and Tech Innovation for the April 5th NonProfit Commons Meeting

This Friday, April 5th, Nonprofit Commons is happy to feature Josephine Dorado (Josephine Junot in Second Life) who will report on her recent work leading TechCamp international workshops and webinars for the US State Department on innovation, digital storytelling and leveraging games and virtual worlds for youth engagement.

 

Bio:

Josephine Dorado is a social entrepreneur, strategist, producer, professor and Pilates instructor whose work focuses on innovation in hybrid online spaces. She was a Fulbright scholarship recipient and initiated the Kidz Connect program, which is a virtual cultural exchange program that connects youth internationally through creative collaboration and theatrical performance in virtual worlds. Josephine also received a MacArthur Foundation Award in Digital Media & Learning, and and continues to be involved with the Fulbright community as an officer of the Board of Directors in NY. She currently teaches at The New School and is the live events producer for This Spartan Life, a talk show inside the video game Halo. She balances her work in online spaces with her passion for teaching Pilates, combining a technology-infused life with a physical, embodied way of being. Most recently, Josephine received the Selma Jeanne Cohen award for scholarly research in dance, recognizing her work using dance frameworks for online collaboration. Commissioned works include interdisciplinary productions for the ISEA and Romaeuropa Festivals as well as speaking engagements at SXSW, IgniteNYC, SIGGRAPH, PICNIC (Amsterdam), and IPZ (Istanbul). Her experience focuses on the convergence of physical with digital, arts with technology, and games with calls to action. She delights in architecting innovative transmedia experiences inspired by the collaborative methodologies behind games and theater.  

 

Join us in Second Life!

 

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting

Friday, April 5th, 8:30 AM SLT / PST

Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

http://bit.ly/NPCinSL

 

 

AGENDA

  • 8:30 am Introductions
  • 8:40 am TechSoup Announcements
  • 8:45 am Mentors Central
  • 8:55 am Josephine Dorado (Josephine Junot in SL) Social Change Through Games, Virtual Worlds and Tech Innovation
  • 9:30 am Open Mic / Announcements

 

http://nonprofitcommons.org

 

The mission of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is to create a community for nonprofits to explore and learn about virtual worlds, foster connections, and discover the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize the unique environment of Second Life to achieve their missions.

Written by: Rhiannon Chatnoir